February 21 - Captiva Island Tween Waters Marina to LaBelle Public Dock

We left Tween Waters around 7:30 a.m. heading to LaBelle to stay at the public dock.  The day is nice and calm, but as we got into the bigger water, the waves and wake from other boats got pretty rough.  

Kip took this picture of a burned cigarette boat being towed.  Yikes.

After we docked, we sat and relaxed for a while. 

We decided to walk into town and stop at the honey store.  On the way, we noticed there was a car show and other activities going on.  We found out that it is their LaBelle's annual Swamp Cabbage Festival.  

Considered a traditional Native American food, swamp cabbage is part of the historical Seminole, Miccosukee, and Calusa tribal diets. Native wildlife, such as bears, are also known to eat it. Today, it’s most often found in cans at your local grocery store. Locally, it’s used fresh in a variety of dishes, such as a hearts of palm salad topped with green ice cream at the Cedar Key’s Island Hotel.

During Panther Refuge harvests, volunteers “cut about the top two-and-a-half feet or so off the tree, and whittle it down until you get to the heart,” says Godsea. “It’s kind of like shucking corn.” Those hearts are then donated to the annual Swamp Cabbage Festival in the town of LaBelle, which hosts the festival during the last full weekend in February. Food vendors are encouraged to be creative with the bounty. Every year, you’ll find a variety of interesting dishes, such as swamp cabbage fritters or a spin on traditional Seminole Taal-holelke, boiled swamp cabbage.

We were the first in line for the Swamp Cabbage Fritters.  They were excellent!

The band was playing and there were quite a few vendors and organizations giving away free trinkets and information.  The people were very nice and we had a fun time.  We returned to the boat relaxed and with full stomachs.  

We had a really fun day today!  Now if we could just get rid of the noseeums!!!